Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Med Hypotheses. 2019 May;126:149-153. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.03.001. Epub 2019 Mar 5.
Frequent falls in people with cerebellar ataxia (CA) is a significant problem Therefore, an intervention that could improve balance and reduce the number of falls is of paramount importance from the patients' perspective. Combining cognitive training with physical training to improve balance is a new approach for reducing the risk of falls in patient populations who are at risk for falls. To determine if adding structured cognitive demands to conventional balance and coordination training we designed the Cognitive-coupled Intensive Balance Training (CIBT) program. We found that the more intensive and focused CIBT intervention reduced dual-task cost, improved balance, and reduced the number of falls in a sample of individuals with CA. We hypothesize that (1) CIBT will improve balance and reduce falls; and (2) CIBT will be a cost-effective treatment option for improving balance and reduce falls. To test these hypotheses, we propose conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with economic evaluation . This paper reports the findings of our study testing the feasibility of the CIBT program, rationale for testing our hypothesis and an overview of our future study design to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the CIBT program.
小脑性共济失调（CA）患者经常跌倒，这是一个严重的问题。因此，从患者的角度来看，能够改善平衡并减少跌倒次数的干预措施是至关重要的。将认知训练与身体训练相结合以改善平衡是降低有跌倒风险的患者人群跌倒风险的新方法。为了确定是否可以通过向常规平衡和协调训练添加结构化认知要求来提高平衡和减少跌倒次数，我们设计了认知耦合强化平衡训练（CIBT）计划。我们发现，更密集和专注的 CIBT 干预减少了双重任务成本，改善了平衡，并减少了 CA 个体样本中的跌倒次数。我们假设：（1）CIBT 将改善平衡并减少跌倒；（2）CIBT 将是改善平衡和减少跌倒的一种具有成本效益的治疗选择。为了检验这些假设，我们建议进行一项具有经济评估的随机对照试验（RCT）。本文报告了我们的研究结果，该研究检验了 CIBT 计划的可行性，检验我们假设的理由以及我们未来研究设计的概述，以检验 CIBT 计划的有效性和成本效益。
